The rapid rise in popularity of Mexican food has created a need for medium capacity tortilla machines that can be used in a restaurant environment. These machines process and cook, to a varying degree, tortilla dough portions into tortillas. In some cases, other flat bread products such as pizza shells are pressed and cooked as well.
Several prior art examples exist which illustrate the mechanization of the tortilla making process. The invention described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,683,813 to Schultz employs a press mechanism which provides for a synchronized pressing motion between a press plate and a rotating cooking disk. The disk rotates in a horizontal plane while the plate moves in a vertical plane. The synchronized motion is accomplished by a series of gears, extension arms, and drive shafts.
Another example is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,508,025 to Schultz. Here, a flat plate is pulled down against a stationary platen by an arrangement of cams, extension arms, and springs, thereby pressing a dough ball into a round flat shape.
A third example can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,838,153 to Ischiomeli et al. The invention disclosed in Ischiomeli pivots one heated platen upward against another. Both of the platens are at an angle relative to the horizontal. As a result, after a tortilla is pressed, it slides downward due to the force of gravity alone.
None of these inventions have proved to be completely satisfactory. Each has an abundance of moving parts which are difficult to clean, difficult to service, and difficult to maintain. Also, the mechanisms used to release the tortilla from the pressing platens are not completely effective, resulting in the dough sticking to the platens and other cleaning and mechanical problems. Additionally, the degree to which the bread product is toasted by each of the prior art mechanisms requires time consuming or complex mechanical adjustments. Finally, each of the prior inventions require mechanical adjustment in order to set and reset the thickness of the tortilla.